Diesel and gasoline vehicle exhaust systems may include one or more catalytic and/or emissions storage devices. As such, each device may operate at an optimal temperature (also known as the light-off temperature) and various heating actions may be taken in the powertrain to deliver heat to the exhaust system in order to heat the device to its optimal operating temperature. The heating actions may include (but not limited to) delaying combustion with injection or spark timing, changing exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rate, delaying transmission shift point, and increasing engine load with accessory loads and the like.
Each of these aforementioned heating actions may negatively affect vehicle fuel economy and may have a noticeable impact on the driver experience. Further, certain drive conditions (like extended idle, for example) may not allow enough heat to get to the exhaust system to light-off the active exhaust components even with the intrusive powertrain actions mentioned above. During such driving conditions, any action taken to warm the exhaust is wasted because it may not yield the desired emissions reduction implying that fuel economy is reduced and the driver may be negatively impacted for no net benefit.
One example is shown by Bergeal et. al. in WO 2011077125 A1, wherein a diesel engine includes a catalyst, and an engine management system that detects idle condition, and stops the engine entirely. Herein, the catalyst design incorporates a honeycomb substrate and is further coated with a catalytic washcoat and is arranged such that it may be able balance the demands of the low catalyst light-off temperature to treat cold-start emissions. However, the design of the catalyst is such that it may be limited to a particular engine system, diesel engines fitted with start/stop technology, for example.
The inventors have recognized the above issues and identified an interactive approach that may address the issue of drive condition related catalyst heating actions across different types of vehicle systems. In one example, the issues above may be address by a method comprising adjusting catalyst heating actions in response to an expected decrease in temperature of a catalyst of a vehicle below a threshold and an estimated duration thereof based on communications external from the vehicle, including delaying the actions based on the actions determined to be unable to achieve the threshold within the duration, and enabling the actions based on the actions determined to be able to achieve the threshold within the duration. Thus, by anticipating drive conditions wherein the exhaust cannot be warmed to operating temperature, intrusive exhaust warm-up actions may be delayed or in some cases inhibited, until a more favorable driving condition occurs.
As an example, a current and a future driving condition may be determined based on a communication within a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network formed between vehicles within a threshold distance of a target vehicle and further communication with a cloud. Additionally, a driver destination information may be determined either from an in vehicle navigation system or from the navigation system of a blue tooth device. Based on the driving condition, a target vehicle may be able to avail of information from a lead network of vehicles to make intelligent decisions related to whether or not to take intrusive actions to maintain or increase exhaust temperature. In this way, an optimal strategy may be devised that continuously monitors fuel cost of heating and the impact to the driver versus delaying catalyst heating until more favorable conditions exist.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.